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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522803">Rusty Gears</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosSmith/pseuds/ChaosSmith'>ChaosSmith</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Disney - All Media Types, Treasure Planet (2002)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Romance, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Jim wants his Parents to be Happy, Other, Reconciliation, Reunions, Sarah and Silver are Bad with Feelings, Silver is a Dad, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:35:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,219</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosSmith/pseuds/ChaosSmith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>8 years after the events that took place on Treasure Planet, Jim finally reunites with Silver; unfortunately, in the worst way possible.<br/>When Jim discovers Silver locked away and clinging to life in the prison of a marauder ship, he decides the best option is to bring the cyborg back to his home on Monstressor to recover. There, Silver meets Jim’s mother Sarah.<br/>While Jim and Silver finally reconnect after their 8 years of separation; Silver and Sarah also find themselves growing closer.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sarah Hawkins/John Silver</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Save Our Ship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jim grew nervous. Lots of things rattled Ben, causing him to sputter and speak in strings of panicked words, usually making situations seem way worse than they were. Yet, something about this seemed different.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At only twenty-five years of age, Jim Hawkins was already the commander of his own imperial ship. After graduating the top of his class at the Royal Naval Academy, it didn’t seem too far-fetched that he’d be running his own fleet at this point; and boy did he love it.<br/>
</p><p>Sailing to the farthest ends of the galaxy to protect others, dismantling the tyranny of destructive pirates, and creating hope for the future. Even on days where there was no “adventuring” to be done, he could still just enjoy the view of a billion stars, their colorful lights blanketing the endless sky. And no. It never got old.<br/>
On one galactic night, down in his quarters where he slept soundly, a siren went off, immediately startling him awake. He quickly darted his eyes around the room, trying to shake off the drowsiness of sleep; he soon understood what this siren was. A distress signal.<br/>
Jim always kept his radio “on air”, so anyone sending out an S.O.S. signal would catch its frequency right away, so he could get help over in no time. Quickly grabbing the mic and tuning in to get a better connection, Jim began to speak to the caller.</p><p>“This is Jim Hawkins, commander of the imperial ship ‘Cosmos’, what is your situation?” </p><p>At first, he was greeted only with some static, before a frantic woman started to hurriedly speak. </p><p><em>“H… Hello?? Hello, yes! P-please help, we’re under attack by pirates! I.. I think they’re pirates anyways!”</em> Jim could hear—though faintly— the distant sounds of guns being fired and cries from the other people aboard. </p><p>
  <em>“We’re a small cargo ship just outside the Orion district! P- l e… Hel-! ……. Kss….”</em>
</p><p>Nothing but static and white noise now. </p><p>“Hello? Hello??” Jim shook the mic as if that would do something, to no avail. He shook his head and immediately rushed out of his room to wake the rest of his crew, they needed to get to the Orion district ASAP. Making quick haste to the wheel, he called for Ben. </p><p>B.E.N. <em>(or just Ben)</em>, a robot he had “rescued” back on Treasure Planet, now made a great asset to his crew being their navigator; as was his original purpose when he worked with the infamous Captain Flint.</p><p>“Quick, Ben! What’s the fastest way to the Orion District?” Jim asked</p><p>“Well, Captain Jim my sir! I would say the pass through—!” Ben hastily, and very eagerly gave the best possible direction to take, Jim nodded and got to work on the ship’s wheel. </p><p>“Thanks!” Jim said, happily pleased this route would waste no time at all. Ben made a proud salute in response. </p><p>Whether he was just happy to be  sailing on a ship once more, or just relieved that he was no longer stranded on a desolate planet with no one to talk to for years <em>(or both)</em>, Ben was always delighted to help in any way he could when it came to Jim and the ship. And as excitable as he was at times, Jim still was glad to have him aboard nonetheless. </p><p>Sure enough, Ben’s exceptional sense of direction got them to the Orion district in a short amount of time. There they soon spotted the cargo ship trying to escape a much larger ship tailing right behind. Jim turned to his crew, who were already readying their swords and pistols waiting on Jim’s orders. He smiled and nodded.</p><p>“Alright, boys! Let’s take down these marauders!” which was greeted with the hearty battle cries of his men. </p><p>Jim sharply veered the Cosmos, ramming it straight into the raider’s as they began throwing lassos onto the enemy ship’s deck. It didn’t take long for the numerous spawn of angry pirates to start firing their guns at Jim’s team, trying to thwart their interception of the cargo ship. Jim’s crew fired back, and of course, being trained elites from the navy, were making quick work at taking them down one by one. Once the enemy pirates started to fall back, Jim and his men hastily boarded the raider’s ship and brought the fight to them.<br/>
This ship felt somewhat <em>odd</em> to Jim though. It was large and sturdy, yes; but, something about its structure didn’t exactly <em>feel</em> like a ship one would use for traveling or looting. Jim couldn’t put his finger on it, but figured to save it for later, he needed to find their leader.<br/>
The main target was always the captain, if you could get the captain, the rest of the crew would surrender; saving Jim a whole lot of injured men and bloodshed.<br/>
The captain was pretty easy to spot too, whether it be their clothes, their weapon, or just the overall energy they carry, they’ll definitely stand out from the rest of the men on board. Sure enough, a tall, four armed reptile appeared in the crowd. It wore a large black coat, and was adorned in jewels and all sorts of gaudy accessories.<br/>
Jim locked eyes with the captain, who hissed angrily and leapt towards him. Jim swiftly stepped back and swung his sword forward, only for it to clash with the captain’s. Back and forth they went at it, swinging left and swinging right, before Jim made a sly dodge of the captain’s next swing; already analyzing their fighting patterns and anticipating this next attack. Then Jim swung his sword in an upward fashion, slicing through the captain's side as they screamed in a mixture of hurt and anger. Before they could get in another swing, Jim pulled out his pistol and fired at the captain’s leg, forcing them to collapse onto their knee in pain.<br/>
With the rest of the marauders overwhelmed by Jim’s crew, it wasn’t long before their captain —ashamed and defeated— lifted their hands in surrender; as did the rest of their crew soon after.<br/>
The pirates and their captain were now in cuffs and being sent to the brig of Jim’s ship. Once he knew they were properly locked up, he made his way over to the cargo ship to which he was quickly greeted by the passengers.<br/>
A middle aged, bug-like woman, presumably the one who called, hastily shook Jim’s hand and thanked him a thousand times over. </p><p>“I can’t begin to tell you how grateful we are you got here! Thank you!” she said gratefully </p><p>“Of course ma’am, I’m just glad you’re all safe.” Jim replied </p><p>She nodded </p><p>“All thanks to you, Mr. Hawkins.” </p><p>Jim smiled warmly</p><p>“Ah, so if you could tell me” Jim began to ask “What’s on your cargo ship? I’d imagine the goods you're transporting are important if it caught the eye of pirates.”</p><p>The woman frowned, as she turned to the other passengers who all seemed a bit perturbed.</p><p>“That’s the thing…” she said softly, turning back to Jim “There’s nothing on this ship.”</p><p>“What?” Jim raised a brow</p><p>“We were on our way to pick up the goods at the manufacturer's facility in the Orion district to deliver back to the Dipper district,” the woman explained “There wasn’t anything on this ship yet, just empty cargo holds…” </p><p>Jim stroked his chin. Did the pirates really not know there wasn’t anything on this ship yet? It wasn’t unlikely, but invasions on ships from pirates are usually planned out in advance, spontaneous attacks are very rare (assuming these pirates aren’t absolute amateurs). </p><p>“Uhh-!” Jim heard Ben suddenly shout out from the pirate’s ship, which was now being cleared out by some of Jim’s men </p><p>“Captain Jim??” Ben called out again, this time more frantic, this worried Jim. </p><p>“What is it, Ben?” </p><p>“You might wanna look at this…!” </p><p>Jim grew nervous. Lots of things rattled Ben, causing him to sputter and speak in strings of panicked words, usually making situations seem way worse than they were. Yet, something about this seemed different.<br/>
He boarded back onto the pirate’s ship, and there he saw Ben and a few of his other men standing by the large hatch that opened to a set of stairs; leading deeper into the ship.<br/>
Jim raised a brow at the three men, who seemed a bit shaken up, but still managed to keep a modicum of composure around their commander. </p><p>“What’s wrong?” Jim asked, concerned</p><p>“We were clearing out the ship as you asked,” one of them spoke “Naturally, we figured this hatch here led to a storage area but when we checked it out--” the man trailed off as he visibly fidgeted</p><p>Jim placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to ease his tension, whatever was down here clearly upset them. Jim sighed, and began to make his way down the stairs, bracing himself for what he may see. </p><p>“Commander.” the other man spoke quickly </p><p>Jim looked up towards him</p><p>“... It’s not a storage area down there.” </p><p>Jim nodded softly, and that was that as he carefully made his way down the dark stairs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Reunited</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This person was quite large, both in height and shape. Something about them felt so… familiar. They were laid on their left side, back towards Jim. It was hard to tell if the rise and fall of their shoulders was them breathing extremely slowly, or if it was simply Jim’s eyes playing tricks on him. Either way, he still had to check.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Upon reaching the hull’s bottom, Jim wasn’t sure what he was looking at at first as the whole area was poorly lit and hard to make out. Once his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit space, he felt a shiver run up his spine.<br/>
Cells. <em>A lot of cells</em>. The giant room was lined up with prison bars upon prison bars built into the ship; and this certainly was no brig, it was much, <em>much</em> too large for that.<br/>
Jim walked past each cell, looking into each one. He felt  more and more sick as he saw almost every single one had people inside, all sorts of species ranging in shapes and sizes. None of them moved an inch at his obvious presence, or responded to any of his calls.<br/>
Jim shuddered in anger.<br/>
No, not people… <em>Bodies</em>.<br/>
A dizzying wave of realization washed right over him, like a freaking flood.<br/>
They never wanted the cargo, they wanted the people. No wonder this whole damn ship felt off to him, it wasn’t built to carry people, it was meant to store them.<br/>
He wanted to cry. So many lives he’s saved, yet in the end, there were still so many he couldn’t.<br/>
Jim didn’t  even want to try and imagine what they were transporting these people for. He would, however, personally see to it that the captain and their crew were given the punishment they deserved, once they returned to the Naval’s base camp.<br/>
Jim saw a small, feline-like child in one prison and couldn’t hold back a choked sob, unmoving, lifeless… beyond help. He quickly covered his mouth and turned away. </p><p><em>“I’m so sorry…”</em> he thought to himself </p><p>He made sure to investigate each cell’s occupant thoroughly, but—lord— he wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to look at another poor soul’s body. He shook himself out a bit as he reached the final cell, preparing for the end of his gruesome inspection. </p><p><em>“Okay, this is the last one, you got this.”</em> Jim peered through the bars, squinting at the form inside. </p><p>This person was quite large, both in height and shape. Something about them felt so… familiar. They were laid on their left side, back towards Jim. It was hard to tell if the rise and fall of their shoulders was them breathing extremely slowly, or if it was simply Jim’s eyes playing tricks on him. Either way, he still had to check.<br/>
Jim knocked on the bars with his knuckles.</p><p>“Hey, are you alright?” He called out, and, this time, he could almost swear he saw one of the person’s legs shift ever so slightly.</p><p>Gods, he didn’t wanna get his hopes up that someone managed to survive this hell hole, but it definitely wasn’t a possibility he was just gonna toss out the window. </p><p>He knocked against the bars quicker and louder this time.</p><p>“Hey… Hey! Are you okay??” He called out</p><p>A wave of relief washed over Jim as he saw the figure’s shoulder shift—undeniably this time—now certain this wasn’t his mind messing with him. </p><p>“Ah-! Hold on, I’m gonna get you out of there!” Jim quickly pulled out his pistol and shot the lock on the prison cell, to which it snapped off and hit the floor with a loud <em>“CLANK!”</em>. </p><p>Jim rushed to the person’s side and knelt down beside them, placing his hand on their shoulder.</p><p>“You’re gonna be fine, we’re going to get you--!” Jim’s reassuring words were halted as he shifted his grip on the person’s oddly surfaced shoulder…</p><p>
  <em>Metal?</em>
</p><p>He looked over the figure’s shoulder and saw what was left of a robotic arm, all sorts of wires and metal bits that looked like they’d been ripped out. The hand itself was completely gone.</p><p>Jim scowled.<br/>
Those damn raider’s couldn’t even let this poor person keep their prosthetic arm intact? How much damage could they have done with it anyways…</p><p>Jim looked them over once more, and spotted the metal that slightly shined through their torn pants. A prosthetic leg as well?<br/>
No, not quite...<br/>
It was a prosthetic… <em>peg leg</em>.<br/>
Jim’s eyes went wide as a rush of emotions and memories swept over him so fast he nearly passed out. Without a second thought, he swiftly turned the person over to confirm his suspicion of the person’s identity.<br/>
…and he was right.<br/>
He was exactly who Jim thought it was.<br/>
John Silver.<br/>
The cunning, cyborg pirate Jim traveled with 8 years ago on the R.L.S. Legacy to locate Treasure Planet. Despite everything they had been through together, Jim had not seen him since. Not without good reason, of course. Jim and Silver had both known that there’d be no law enforcement in this whole galaxy that would pass up the opportunity of seeing the old pirate  locked away for life… or worse. </p><p>Jim felt a lot of things upon seeing it was Silver .<br/>
Happy, anxious, relieved, stressed…<br/>
But most importantly, <em>worried</em>.<br/>
Silver wasn’t dead, but he sure as hell was dying.<br/>
Jim smiled weakly at the bittersweet thought of Silver’s spirit being too strong to let something like this do him in; but, he knew spirit could only get him so far. Silver needed medical attention right away if he was gonna make it.<br/>
He almost called out to his men before he remembered that, while they were his crew, they were also still navy soldiers.<br/>
Assuming they even let Jim get Silver the help he needed, what was stopping them from throwing the cyborg in prison right after?? No, he wasn’t going to risk that .<br/>
He considered sneaking Silver onto his ship, waiting until dead of night, then taking one of their sail boats to bring the cyborg to a proper medical facility.<br/>
Jim shook his head. There were way too many things that could go wrong in that plan.<br/>
How the hell did he plan to sneak someone as conspicuous as Silver onto his ship? Especially when Silver was in no condition to even somewhat walk himself.<br/>
Even if he did manage to smuggle the cyborg on board, what’s he supposed to say to the doctors?</p><p>
  <em>“Hi there! It’s me, the famous navy commander Jim Hawkins! This is my robot dad who none of you have ever seen or heard of before that needs immediate medical attention because he’s been dying for God knows how long!”</em>
</p><p>The police would be there faster than he could say: So, funny story-!.<br/>
Come on, think…</p><p>“Uh, Captain Jim?” </p><p>Jim quickly shot around to see Ben standing at the entrance to the cell. </p><p>“B-Ben!” Jim searched for his words </p><p>“You weren’t coming back, so the men thought maybe you were… <em>ahem</em>… a bit frazzled??” Ben fidgeted as he nervously glanced around the area and its sinister purpose.</p><p>“Y… Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry.” Jim assured the robot, but he could clearly see Ben trying to get a better look at the person Jim was hunched over for some reason. </p><p>Jim sighed.</p><p>“Ben, do you remember Silver? John Silver?” </p><p>“Oh! Well, thankfully Jim I can remember everything now!” Ben said proudly as he knocked on his head, referring to when his memories were literally ripped from his mind. </p><p>“Right… Well, uh--” Jim moved aside to reveal Silver to Ben. The robot’s jaw nearly hit the floor.</p><p>“Wh-! <em>Oh!</em> Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! <em>Silver-!</em> H-h-h-h-he’s…! <em>He’s-!</em>” Ben sputtered </p><p>“<em>Shh!</em> Calm down, Ben!” Jim quickly shushed him, not wanting the robot’s panicking to alert any of the other crew members “Don’t worry, he’s fine… or, <em>will be</em>, anyway...”</p><p>“Ah! Well that’s great! Let’s grab the other crew and-!” </p><p>“N-no! Ben, we can’t!” Jim urged in a hushed tone. </p><p>“Huh? Why not?” </p><p>“Think about it, Ben… We’ve got a <em>literal, infamous pirate on board</em>, and a whole fleet of navy soldiers out there.” </p><p>He could almost physically see the metaphorical gears turn in Ben’s head as he thought over Jim’s statement. </p><p>“They’d have him hanged!” Ben said in horror, hands brought up to his face </p><p>While Ben hadn’t known Silver for long, and their interactions being far from pleasant-- He knew how much the man meant to Jim, and the last thing he’d want would be for the person his best friend cared about like a father to be subjected to any unfortunate events. Namely death. However, seeing the current state of the cyborg, Ben would say he’s already more than halfway there…</p><p>“What do we do then?” Ben asked worriedly </p><p>Jim frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration </p><p>“I… I don’t know. We obviously can’t take him to a hospital, but...”</p><p>Would Jim have to tell his crew about Silver? Is it possible that after all these years maybe the navy would drop any animosity they had towards the cyborg? He could always contact Amelia, granted Silver and her didn’t exactly leave on good terms, but could she make an exception for Jim and pull a few strings to help him out? </p><p>“Good news, Captain Jimmy!” Ben announced kneeling down next to Jim, causing him to snap out of his deep thought and turn to the robot. </p><p>“Good news?” Jim said, puzzled</p><p>“Silver doesn’t need a hospital!” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>“Well, it seems he really just needs bed rest.”</p><p>Jim raised a brow </p><p>“You seem pretty sure of that considering…” Jim just has to broadly gesture to all of Silver to express that the cyborg looked like he had one foot in the grave, and the other on a less-than-sturdy peg leg.  </p><p>“Ah, sure! He <em>looks</em> super bad, but no coughing? No visible fever? Not to mention he’s not really bleeding out anywhere. He’s not sick, he’s just-!” Ben grows silent as he sadly looks around the area “... Not taken care of.”  </p><p>Jim places a hand on Ben’s shoulder, who smiles at the somewhat comforting gesture. </p><p>“Well, if you’re right about that, then that’s one problem solved. I suppose the next issue is <em>where</em> to take him to help him recover…” Jim stroked his chin  </p><p>Jim thought it over carefully, it’d have to be a place he could safely take Silver too.<br/>
A place he trusted more than anything, with <em>people</em> he trusted more than anything.<br/>
An imaginary lightbulb went off in Jim’s head and he awkwardly sighed.  </p><p>“You know what they say,” Jim said softly “There’s no place like home.”</p>
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